When my brother, Jon Sewing, asked if he should accept an invitation to judge a local beauty pageant, I replied, “Sure, it could be fun.” Who knew he would get so much out of the experience? Jon was a judge for a recent all-day beauty pageant event at the Woodland College Park High School organized by the Miss Texas Staff and Sheila Milner, owner/operator of Dancezone and director of Miss Houston Pageant. He arrived before sunrise on a Sunday and spent the entire day helping to judge the Miss Woodlands, Miss Katy, Miss Kingwood and Miss Alamo City, along with Miss Teen titles for Friendswood, Clear Lake and Fort Bend County. Whew!

Judging didn’t end until late night, and the host of the day was KTRK news anchor Sharron Melton, a former Miss New Mexico. The next day, I asked Jon if he learned anything from the experience. Here are 5 things he got out of it:

1. You get to hear “How did you get so lucky?” from every guy you mention it to.

2. The judge you sit next to may just be a reigning pageant queen with nice legs and cool enough to let you hold her crown for close to 10 minutes.

3. It’s one of the few times you can question a group of nice looking women without worrying you might screw it up.

4. Women have dynamic qualities and watching a beauty pageant on TV is not the same as seeing it in person.

5. Anything you have going on can wait. It’s more important to be around talented, attractive, aspiring young ladies for a day.

A guy’s takeaway: If you every get asked to judge a beauty pageant, just say, “Yes!”